Island



(No Mode 1.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J.A.SN ELL. BRIGK'GUTTING MACHINE.

Patented June 28 1892.

fivnir 4 Mayday .mo'moa'el. I V 2 sheets -sheet J. A. SNELL.

BRICK CUTTING MACHINE.

No. 477,915. Patented June '28, 1892..

1 h UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. v

JACOB ARTHUR SNELL, OF HARRINGTON, RHODE ISLAND.

BRICK-CUTTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 477,915, dated June 28, 1892.

Application filed January '7, 1892- To all whom it 77-May concern.-

Be it known that I, J ACOB ARTHUR SNELL, of Barrington, in the county of Bristol and State of Rhode Island, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Brick; and Ido hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure l isa top view of my improved brickcutting machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 0000. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 00 or with cutter-frame thrown up.

The object of my improvements is to produce a brick which shall be smoother and more perfectly formed than those heretofore manufactured; and it consists in the devices for bringing the clay within the operation of the cutters and maintaining a proper tension upon the cutting-wires, as hereinafter described.

In the machines now in use for cutting bricks a section of clay of a suitable length and width is conveyed to the machine and to a position under the cuttiligwires, so that it may be divided into a certain number of bricks. The section of clay in being carried to such a position beneath the cutters is moved along upon a horizontal stationary table until the proper place is reached. The friction of the clay upon this table gives to and leaves the bricks with a rough surface upon the under side, which materially detracts from their appearance and value.

In the machines now in use the cuttingwires are stretched across a frame hinged to one side of the machine and are attached to such frame upon either side by a hook and loop. A slight stretch of the hook or loop slackens the wire, in which condition it gives the bricks an irregular or ragged shape and seriously injures their market value.

In my invention I dispense with the horizontal table before referred to and provide the machine with an endless belt A, Figs. 1 and 2, which is operated by a couple of drums B B, to which power may be applied in any desired way. The section of clay is taken by the endless belt and carried to its position instead of being forced over a stationary ta- Serialllo. 417,262. on model.)

ble and itsunder surface torn and disturbed. The belt A has a foundation of leather or other flexible material, to which are secured.

cross-blocks of wood 0. These blocks are about the width of the bricks to be cut, and the wires in cutting pass into the spaces between them.

D, Figs. 3 and 4, is a leverpivoted to the frame and operates a vertical rod E, which is provided with a T-shaped head. Whenever the belt A has moved a sufficient distance to bring the section of clay to its proper position under the cutting-wires, the lever D is pressed downward, which throws the T-shaped end of the rod E into one of the slots L in the belt and resists its further progress until the frame containing the cutting-wires is caused to descend and cuts the bricks.

F, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, is a brush attached to the frame of the machine at an angle to the belt and sweeps away the loose clay which drops down in the cutting process and prevents it from getting between the belt and its drums.

G is the swinging frame to which the cutting wires are attached and is provided with longitudinal bars H H and I. The cutting-wires J are secured at one end byaloop over a stationary pin, while the other is connected in a similar manner to an adjustable rod, which is operated by a set-screw to put a strain upon the wire.

In the spaces or channels formed by the bars H H and the bar I and the back of the frame I place a series of clamps K K, each of which is controlled by a set-screw and pinch and hold the cutting-wires at either end between their T:shaped hands and the surface of the frame. These clamps not only shorten the wires and decrease their tendency to stretch, but by holding the wires intermediate their ends they also take a large portion of the strain from the loops at either end and prevent the wires from becoming slack, which interferes with the satisfactory operation of the machine, and they also prevent the liability of the wires breaking at their ends where they are bent to form the loops which engage with the pins of the frame.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a brick-cutting machine, the endless slotted belt A, operating upon drums B B for receiving and conveying the-clay toaposition to be operated upon by the 611t'tin'g-wires,-and a brush secured at an angle to the frame between the bottom thereof and the inn-er sur face of the belt as it passes from the lower surface of one'of the drumsB to the lower surface of the other drum, as and for the purposes specified. r

2. In a brick-cutting machine, an endless belt A of leather or other flexible material and having a series of slots L, in combination with a lever D and rod E for controlling the movement of the belt, as and for the purposes specified.

3. In a brick-cutting machine,

tion, with the cutting-Wires J, of a series of m4..- NYitnesses: the combina- J, ARTHUR SNELL.

DENNIS II. SHEAHAN, WALTER B. VINCENT. 

